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This is the official blog of Northern Arizona slam poet Christopher Fox Graham. Begun in 2002, and transferred to blogspot in 2006, FoxTheBlog has recorded more than 670,000 hits since 2009. This blog cover's Graham's poetry, the Arizona poetry slam community and offers tips for slam poets from sources around the Internet. Read CFG's full biography here. Looking for just that one poem? You know the one ... click here to find it.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Open letter to Dave Matthews

This is an open letter to Dave Matthews,

for those of you expecting the typical "ode to a musician" slam poemthis would be the pointwhere I would insert biographical referencesof the Johannesburg-born guitarist,raised in New Yorkwho finally left South Africa to avoid military conscription

or obscure clues to his professional history,like his honorary doctorate from Haverford Collegeor the anti-Apartheid theme of “Don’t Drink the Water”

Dave,the month I turned 18I heard “Crash Into Me” for the first timewith lyrics so sharp they stung

for those of ustoo shy to talk to girlsall tied up and twisted,it was our ballad,our song,it gave boys like me hopethat even awkward outsiderscould find the right girleven if we felt too creepyto stand the sight of ourselves

Dave,you expressed our dreamasked on our behalfin way only you couldthat they forgive us in our hasteyes, we were peeping tomswatching through the windowasking them to overlook our failuresand for both our sakes, to justcrash into usjust hike up their skirts a little moreand show the world to us

you said what we couldn’t:“I’m lost for you;I'm so lost for youTouch your lipsjust so I knowIn your eyes, love, it glows soI'm bareboned and crazy for youWhen you come crash into me”we felt creepy, but you made it sound sweet

Dave, you were king of the castlewe were the dirty rascalsand that song was our secretI knew what the words meantwhile everyone else just heard the melody

and then I met hershe loved that song, too,and I don’t know if she felt like the girl insidewinking at us in the bushesor she was outside with the rest of usfeeling awkward, too,but she hiked up her skirtand showed her world to meand while that song playedshe wanted to crash into mewanted me to come into her in a boy’s dream

she was sweet like candy to my soulsweet she rockAnd sweet she rollshe wore nothing at allbut she wore it so wellwe were tied up and twistedthey way we ought to beI was her Dixie chickenshe was my Tennessee lamband we walked togetherdown in Dixielandjust like you said we would

but Dave,fuck you,that song only lasts 5 minutes 16 secondsthe longest bootleg I can findis 8 minutes 23 secondsand that’s not enough time to love hershe’s worth decadesbut no one makes CDs that longand I can’t put it on repeat ...

she’s too smart for that

if you had written the song to last a dayI might have held her longer than a year,she’s tied me up tighttied me up againshe’s got her claws into me, my friendI’ve got my ballI’ve got my chainher wave crashed into meand I’ve gone overboard

I’ve lived that boy’s dream,I made it real and now she’s goneyou gave me hope,but fuck you, Dave,you never said what happens when the song endsJust that into my heart she'll beat again now whenever I hear those opening chords,the song just crashes into meknocks me overboardleaves me drowningin a boy’s dream

Despite the poem, I'm a fan, too. I never had many album in my teens and college, but I had four Dave Matthews Band albums. I knew a lot of people in college who hated him or band, but not for any legitimate reason. Disliking Hootie and the Blowfish made a little more sense, because it seemed like fraternity boys liked the band, so people who hated frat boys hated the band by proxy. But disliking Dave Matthews still doesn't make sense. He's a good lyricist and the band makes great music.

Well, to use your words, "FU" for writing such a beautiful poem, Christopher Fox Graham! I stumbled across it because of the DMB reference, but now you have a new fan.

I've always thought the ones who express such hatred for the band "doth protest too much" - if you know what I mean. Most liked it at one time, but when it was no longer "cool" they professed to have seen the light and decided the band sucked. I suspect when they're older, and have grown out of caring what others think, they'll come back to it.

By the way, I don't think you needed to say in your comment that "despite the poem, I'm a fan, too." That's obvious. Only a fan could write such a piece as you've written. Look forward to reading more of your stuff.

CFG the slam poet

Fox the Poet

Christopher Fox Grahamis a Montana-born boy raised in Arizona to be a poet, artist, and singer with unending wanderlust. He's fascinated with art and other shiny things, a good story will keep him captivated and silent as he soaks you in.

In truth, he is good at only three things: using language, kissing, and driving.

He has performed for MTV and on The Travel Channel's "Your Travel Guide" episode of Sedona. Aside from winning more than 100 poetry slams, he's published four books of poetry, most recently The Opposite of Camouflage, and won the 2012 Dylan Thomas Award for Excellence in the Written and Spoken Word.

A slam poet since 2001, he currently hosts the bimonthly Sedona Poetry Slam in West Sedona.

For nearly four years, he was the senior Copy Editor of the Sedona Red Rock News, and an arts reporter and a columnist. He wrote a weekly column "Sedona Underground," about the city's art scene. After leaving in May 2008, he was asked to return as Assistant Managing Editor in October 2009. He was promoted to News Editor in April 2012 and in August 2012 was promoted to Managing Editor, overseeing the Sedona Red Rock News,The Camp Verde Journal, Cottonwood Journal Extra, The Scene and The Village View.

He has won numerous personal and editorial newsroom awards from the Arizona Newspapers Association, including three awards for Best Headline.

He was the managing editor of Kudos, a weekly arts and entertainment publication of the Verde Independent. He was also managing editor of The Villager, a weekly news publication in the Village of Oak Creek.

He is one the six coordinators of GumptionFest a kickass, annual, one-day grassroots arts festival held in Sedona, this year in September. More than 100 artists and bands exhibit their work for free to more than 1,200 people.

In 2005, he founded the Sedona Poetry Open Mic, which he hosted biweekly at Java Love Cafe on second and fourth Tuesdays until 2012. A former venue included Random Acts of Coffee, in Sedona, which closed in June 2005. The venue named a drink after him which one can order an various coffeehouses in Sedona. The "Topher": A large soy chai with two (or three) shots of espresso. Serve iced or hot. He was member of the city of Sedona Child and Youth Commission for two years and chairman for another two years before the commission was dissolved in 2008.

He has been unofficially named "The Voice of the Underground," in Sedona for his column "Sedona Underground" that appeared every Friday in The Scene. for more than three years, featuring more than 150 artists.

He won the 2004 NORAZ Poets Grand Slam, the 2005 Arizona All-Star Poetry Slam, and was a member of the 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2013 Flagstaff National Poetry Slam Teams. He was also a National Poetry Slam bout manager in 2003, venue manager in 2011, and Sedona Slammaster in 2012, 2013 and 2014, sponsoring the city's first three Sedona National Poetry Slam Teams.

He believes that all slam poets are Jedis.

He has been thrown out of six movie theaters, 18 bars, a Las Vegas nightclub with his girlfriend, a public pool, two malls, four golf courses, one bowling alley, five dorms, one airport, one pet store, a now-defunct nonprofit poetry organization ... and Canada. Seriously.